Gateway Laptop Is Thin But Price Is Substantial

July 10, 2004|By Chris Cobbs, Sentinel Columnist

The latest thin-and-light laptop from Gateway nicely hits the sweet spot between portability and power. But its price may be too rich for frugal road warriors, and it has a couple of other minor shortcomings, as well.

Hardly an inch thick, the 200XL weighs just 4.35 pounds and is a comfortable carry, whether it's sans case between offices or tucked in a protective case for cross-country travels.

The 200XL's $2,029 price can be traced to high-end components such as a 1.7 GHz Pentium M processor, 512 megabytes of memory, a 60 gigabyte hard disk and a DVD burner. Also built into the slim chassis are two USB and one FireWire port, along with high-speed 802.11g wireless networking.

With the upscale specs to make it a speedy performer on a variety of tasks, the 200XL comes up a tickle short on software and screen.

Included are Microsoft Works 7.0, a less capable version of the Microsoft Office suite, and a 14-inch XGA screen, less crisp than competitors with higher-resolution offerings. Of course, adding a richer software package and better quality screen would have driven up the price by $100 or more.

The keyboard is well-designed, with a row of Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys on the right side. But its built-in touchpad is merely adequate, so I plugged in Microsoft's newest mouse, a $34.95 optical model on which international designer Philippe Starck collaborated. He also did designs for Fossil watches and the Eros armchair before trying to make something artsy out of a computer mouse.

The silver oval features two clickable buttons on either side of a lighted orange stripe down the middle, with a scroll wheel near the top. The mouse is also available with other color stripes, such as cobalt, periwinkle and blue.

The mouse works on nearly any surface and is instantly recognized by both Windows and Mac systems, requiring no software installation.

WATCH THOSE TOES

On a recent plane trip, I happened to get in line for the security check behind a woman with a loosely assembled stack of rolling luggage piled three bags high.

Teetering atop the pile was a laptop bag that kept threatening to tumble, with likely damage to the computer tucked inside if it crashed to the floor from a height just shy of Shaquille O'Neal. Not to mention possible bruised shins for the unlucky traveler in line behind her. Moi.

Too bad she wasn't equipped with the new Targus Elite Notebook Easy Roller case, one of the niftier laptop bags I've seen -- and I've tried dozens through the years.

Equipped with smoothly rolling wheels and a retractable handle, the $149 case has a well-padded section that holds a laptop with a screen as big as 15 inches.

There are four removable accessory pouches, eight CD/DVD sleeves and five file sections.

The Easy Roller also offers such unusual features as a water-bottle holder and an interior light that shines blue illumination into the workstation compartment. There are also sleeves for plane tickets and passports.

With two rubber feet on its front edge, the case balances evenly when placed on the floor, affording extra security for the PC snuggling inside.

It also secures to larger rolling luggage if desired, but I'd keep it separate for easier handling. Tugging a bag with each hand avoids the risk of a stack of two or three collapsing maddeningly all over the terminal floor -- or, worse, on the unsuspecting feet of nearby travelers.